Easy and very literate short stories that ride the classic fairy tale train. I have not read any of Byatt's novels, but if they are put together as well as the short stories, then I am sure they are a treat. It seems that she hides the moral of her stories a little deeper but and puts the characters in a fluctuating moral compass, which eventually swings heavily in one direction or the other. ( )

The first four stories are indeed pure fantasy fairy stories that take the reader back to a simple childhood fantasy land. They are beautifully and precisely written, but at the end of the fourth story Dragon's Breath I was wondering whether these tales were just an exercise in the execution of fairy tales; something along the lines of a famous author proving to herself that she can write in this vein. However the title story which is of novella length is worth the money spent on this collection. Byatt once again shows how she can mix literature, literary history and fantasy into a satisfying concoction that draws the reader into a compelling story.

The Djinn in the Nightingale's eye features Gillian Perholt a story teller whose profession as a narratologist takes her to a conference in Ankara Turkey. She is described as English and stolid and a little nervous of flying, but thoughts of tales from the Arabian nights has piqued her interest. She is presenting a paper on Chaucer's tale The Patient Griselda which allows Byatt to retell this piece of literary history whilst adding her own thoughts to the relevance of the story. Gillian meets an old colleague Orhan Rifat who takes her to Istanbul, to museums, to the famous covered market and to Hagia Sophia. Their fascination for stories lead them to re-tell the story of Gilgamesh and his love for Enkidu. A young student of Orhan presents Gillian with a dirty small glass jar which may be very old and here starts Gillian's own fantasy story, because when she uncorks the bottle a huge Genie (Djinn) appears and grants her three wishes for releasing him from his prison.

Gillian of course wants to know more, wants to know the history of the Djinn, she wants to know his stories. She falls in love with the Djinn, her life has become a fantasy story, how should she frame her wishes, how should she keep her connection with the Djinn, what wonderful things will happen to her now and how can she avoid the pitfalls of wishing for too much or too little. Byatt takes the reader on a wonderful fantasy ride with a knowledgable protagonist ready to ask the questions one might wish to ask if ever you were lucky enough to enslave a Djinn: the right sort of Djinn that is, because Gillian's Djinn is kind, thoughtful and everything you might want a Djinn to be. It becomes a love story and a story that will gladden the heart of the reader and effortlessly take him/her back to childhood fantasies, with the added bonus of delving further into the myths.

The interest and depth of the Djinn story made me wish to re-read the more simple first four fairy stories and so 4 stars for this collection ( )

Intellectual fairy tales, in Byatt’s characteristically lush language. The longest, eponymous tale is a modern-day fable, but even more enchanting for being so. ( )

Lucid, poetical, mysterious, and appealing. The title story, a nest of stories and a meditation on the nature of story and on the roles of men and women in the world, is a marvel. Some of Byatt's images strike horror into my heart in a way no other writer's images can, and she can move my contrary heart to joy unlike any other writer, as well. The other stories are gemlike as well. I particularly liked "The Eldest Princess." ( )

If you like storytelling, if you enjoy Italo Calvino or Borges or Neil Gaiman, you will love this little book of tales. Each is a perfect little postmodern fairy-tale, charming, frightening or enlightening. The tone is illustrated nicely by the Tale of the Eldest Princess, who, realizing she is in a story and not liking the role she is playing ("I do not want to be the princess who fails and must be rescued" and she cries), decides, after much reflection and with the brusque encouragement of a dangerous guide, to leave the road and abandon the story and create her own. Along the way she sees sometimes an old woman walking behind her, or ahead of her on the path. Much later she learns that there is always an old woman ahead of you or behind you... and I'm sure she will someday be the old woman to another young woman who chooses to make her own path. ( )